Information Safekeeping

Excerpted from Being Prepared: A Lawyer’s Guide for Dealing with Disability or Unexpected Events

By Lloyd D. Cohen and Debra Hart Cohen

Keep the casualty manual in a safe place. What constitutes a safe place is specific to your situation. For some, it could be the office safe, lawyer’s safe, a fireproof box at home, or a bank safe deposit box. For others, electronic storage with remote backup will be the way to go. When deciding on a safe place, you need to think about the big picture. Consider your geographical area. If kept electronically, is it safe from hackers?

Update the casualty manual. You should review your manual once a year or after any significant change in the law firm occurs. A good strategy is to update the casualty manual annually when you renew your malpractice insurance. Don’t make retrieving the manual so inconvenient that it would discourage you from updating it.

Be sure the manual is accessible by your helper. Whatever way you use to hide the key, password, or location, your helpers must know that you have an emergency casualty plan, who the network of helpers are, and how you have your information stored or protected and how it may be recovered.

Sponsoring Entity:

ABA General Practice Solo and Small Firm Division